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• Undergraduate study:
• Courses
• Order a prospectus
• How to apply
• Information for applicants
• Why choose Kingston University
• Disability and mental health support
• Accommodation
• Undergraduate fees
• Fees, funding and payments
• Access, participation and inclusion

Journalism Specialism: Arts and Entertainment

• Module code: JO6005
• Year: 2018/9
• Level: 6
• Credits: 30
• Pre-requisites: Successful completion of level 5 Journalism requirements or equivalent
• Co-requisites: None

Summary

As well as exploding the myths surrounding showbiz reporting, this highly practical specialist module will encourage students to explore in depth and actively engage with at the wider arena of arts journalism. Students will try their hands at most or all of the following: interviews, profiles, obituaries, reviews, previews and listings. They will participate in in-class discussions and debates about the role of broadsheet arts sections and colour supplements and other 'serious' arts publications versus gossip websites, magazines and columns, celebrity-focused blog sites and news-feeds. Students will also be introduced to examples illustrative of the growth of publications focusing on particular areas, such as fine art, literature, film, and music; amateur fan-based magazines - particularly online; and publications focusing on even more specific niche genres, ranging from ballet to burlesque.

Aims

• To provide students with a detailed insight into the spectrum of arts and entertainment reporting – from event listings and previews through reviews of exhibitions, performances and new releases to interview-based features, profiles, and 'frontline' red-carpet showbiz reporting
• To give students an in-depth insight into the day-to-day work of showbiz reporters, reviewers, and both mainstream and niche arts editors and correspondents
• To offer students the chance to experiment first-hand with arts journalism by completing a portfolio of their own arts and entertainment articles
• To enable students to engage in debates about the nature and future direction of arts and entertainment journalism; topical stories and/or issues related to the world(s) of arts and entertainment; and the impact of advances in digital and online media on this journalistic specialism
• To equip students with the skills and confidence necessary to undertake an extended individual project from scratch - for example, setting up their own niche website, e-zine, or short magazine/fanzine; writing a series of extended pieces of original journalism on related topics; producing an arts/entertainment features supplement or review section suitable for a named real-life newspaper; or generating a body of work demonstrating proficiency and imagination in the use of mediums beside print/writing (e.g. video, audio, web design).

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the various forms arts and entertainment journalism can take, and the different audiences for which it is produced:

• Confidently demonstrate this understanding by producing a practical portfolio based on their own primary research (interviews, firsthand observation, personal experience, data analysis etc)
• Critically analyse the issues affecting arts and entertainment journalism - and the changing role(s) of arts and entertainment journalists - in the digital era
• Display a keen awareness of topical news stories, issues and debates related to the worlds of arts and entertainment and/or specific areas of the arts (e.g. fine art, movies, classical music)
• Demonstrate an ability to work independently and at length on an extended individual project involving significant primary research and the use of a variety of different processes and/or mediums

Curriculum content

Among the subjects covered by this syllabus will be:

• The rise of arts and entertainment journalism: origins of gossip and diary columns in the 19th and early 20th centuries; the Hollywood ‘star system’ and celebrity in the age of the Silver Screen; the emergence of reviewing and criticism of the arts, and the power of 'the critic'
• That’s showbusiness: From classical to populist – variety, light entertainment, cinema, radio, television, pop music, and the popularisation of the arts
• Leading lights in the arts and ents world: heads of galleries, theatres and performance venues, and the big agents and PR agencies
• Sources of arts and entertainment stories and feature ideas: off-diary stories, diary events, PR big-hitters, and the rise of gossip, specialist and/or genre websites, e-zines and amateur blog sites, showbiz news aggregating sites, and events listings services
• Different forms of arts journalism: news, features, gossip, blogs, profiles, obituaries, reviews, previews, listings etc
• Famous for being famous: analysis of the modern-day ‘cult of celebrity’; gossip pages, women’s glossies, and celebrity magazines; reality TV and the ‘instant celebrity’; the rise of the celebrity autobiography - and ghost-writer
• Celebrity and the wider news environment: How ‘celebrity culture’ is infecting politics and other areas of the news media, and the rise of ‘infotainment’
• The future of arts and ents journalism: Arts and entertainment reporting, reviews, and listings as digital ‘content’; blogs, podcasts, and arts on the web; the decline of the professional 'gatekeeper' reviewer

Teaching and learning strategy

The module will be delivered through a mixture of lectures and seminars/workshops. The lecturer will deliver the background information necessary to inform classroom discussion of related issues and students’ practical work. Seminars will be used to promote this discussion, and students will be expected to take the lead by presenting relevant topics and questions for debate. Workshops will be used to facilitate research and writing – both in the form of simulated exercises set by the tutor and self-directed work on real-life articles to be submitted as part of students’ assessed portfolios and work-in-progress for their extended individual projects.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Assessment strategy

The assessment for this module is designed to test the ability of students to distinguish between different types of arts and entertainment journalism, and to put into practice what they have learned in the form of a varied portfolio of arts and/or showbiz articles and an extended individual project. It is also intended to test students' awareness of  major stories, issues and debates in the arts and entertainment worlds.

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Elements of Assessment

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module

Bibliography core texts

• Harris, John. The Last Party: Britpop, Blair, and the Demise of English Rock (Fourth Estate, 2003)
• Ian Macdonald. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties (Henry Holt and Co, 1994)
• Morgan, Piers. Don’t You Know Who I Am? (Ebury Press, 2007)
• Titchener, Campbell. Reviewing the Arts (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005)

Bibliography recommended reading

• Thusu, Daya. News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment (Sage, 2008)
• Hoskyns, Barney. The Sound and the Fury: 40 Years of Classic Rock Journalism (Bloomsbury, 2003)
• Kael, Pauline. For Keeps: 30 Years at the Movies. (Plume, 1996)
• Kaste, Marlise. Tabloid Prodigy: Dishing the Dirt, Getting the Gossip, and Selling My Soul in the Cutthroat World of Hollywood Reporting (Perseus Books, 2007)
• Morgan, Piers. The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade (Ebury, 2005)
• Pringle, Hamish. Celebrity Sells (John Wiley and Sons, 2004)
• Thomson, David. The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (Little, Brown, 2003)